Men of color make up just 3% of K12 leadership and they’re leaving the profession at a faster rate than members of any other demographic groups, says former administrator Harrison Peters.
But there are deliberate steps that district leaders can take to encourage more men of color to aspire to principalships, superintendencies and other administrative positions, adds Peters, a former K12 administrator and now CEO of the nonprofit Men of Color in Education Leadership, a mentoring and PD organization also known by its acronym, MCEL.
Peters, like many Black educators, explains how he was typecast at the beginning of his teaching career. He was assigned lunch room, bus and coaching duties while similarly-experienced white teachers were placed on curriculum and school improvement committees.
‘Talking out of School’ podcast: Why authenticity is so important for Principal Kafele
“We know bias creeps in when you’re a leader of color,” he notes. “We’ve heard themes—they say ‘I feel isolated,’ ‘I don’t have the resources’ and ‘I don’t feel as if I have the runway to turn schools around that my counterparts have.'”
10 keys to success
There are also steps Black educators can take to better position themselves for promotion, Peters notes. MCEL collected input from more than 300 leaders to identify 10 keys to success.
The first, “strategic disarming,” is a technique for breaking down preconceived notions that others may have of Black educators. “It’s how I walk into a space so people can hear my message,” Peters explains. Another skill, “mirror moments,” describes how leaders reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and set a course of improvement.
Other “essential competencies”—with MCEL’s descriptions—include:
- Executive stance: Communicates confidence and steadiness during difficult times and adapts to new situations.
- Handles disequilibrium: Puts stressful experiences into perspective and manages mistakes, stress and ambiguity.
- Recognizes trade-offs: Understands every decision has conflicting interests; balances short-term pay-offs with long-term improvement.
- Work/life harmony: Balances work priorities with personal life.
“If we don’t intervene,” Peters says of the prospects of Black K12 leaders, “we will reach an extinction-level event in the next decade.”
